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CA7: Failure of particularity in warrant but not affidavit does not lead to suppression

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Affidavit for search warrant particularly described what was to be seized but the warrant did not. This was insufficient for suppression of evidence. United States v. Sims, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 1158 (7th Cir. January 22, 2009): So just as in United States v. Stefonek, 179 F.3d 1030 (7th Cir. 1999), a case that differs in no material respect from this one, the search was reasonable. But we could not there, and we cannot here, draw the straightforward conclusion that there was no violation of the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court, on grounds of policy rather than of text or history--in fact, as we have just noted, in the teeth of the text and possibly of the history of the amendment (depending on whether Taylor or Amar, on the one hand, or Davies on the other, has the better historical case)--has ruled that, though with numerous but immaterial exceptions, a search without a warrant is unconstitutional...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 26, 2009 (boomark / email).